According to reports, the year to date has been a good one for Irish bookmaker Paddy Power. The firm has opened 27 new traditional betting outlets in the United Kingdom and in Ireland in the last year. However, while over the counter betting and telephone betting continues to yield strong results for Paddy Power, its online gambling interests are where the bulk of its revenue derives from. The firm’s online casino, poker and sports betting sites have generated substantial profit over the year.
Paddy Power also used the World Cup to open its first betting site in German, along with an online bingo site to boost its presence among female gambling fans. According to the firm’s chairman, Fintan Drury, the World Cup’s target profit was reached on higher than expected turnover. “The punters won a fortune early on with 18 of the first 22 matches being won by the favorites," Drury said.

The firm based in Dublin recorded an increase in net profit from January to June from 15.8 euros to 17.5 million over the same period last year. A total of 877.6 million euros in bets were recorded, an increase of 27 percent. Cash reserves also increased 30.6 percent to Euro 68.3 million.

Paddy Power’s chief executive, Patrick Kennedy, has said that the firm is eagerly anticipating the full implementation of the Gambling Act 2005 in the United Kingdom next year, which will lower restrictions on betting. Among the benefits the firm stands to gain from the new rules is the opportunity for longer opening hours.

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